Europe nylon 6 February contracts roll over

LONDON (ICIS)--The majority of European nylon 6 February contracts have settled at a rollover from January, depending on starting point, buyers and sellers confirmed on Tuesday.

The rollover comes despite a €113/tonne ($149/tonne) fall in the upstream benzene February contract price, with the decrease not being passed through the polyamide chain because of the need to restore margins.

In some cases, February nylon 6 contract prices rose by €0.05-0.06/kg, but this was for contracts which had started at a lower base.

Producers had been targeting price increases of up to €0.10/kg, but buyers were strongly resistant because of their own weak margins, oversupply, and – depending on end-use market – weak demand.

Nylon 6 producers have already begun to target price increases in March, citing the need to further restore margins. Buyers said that they will resist price rise targets becuase of their own weak margins.

Germany-based producer LANXESS is targeting a price rise of €0.25/kg ($0.33/kg) on its Durethan B nylon 6 product line from 1 March, it said, as the result of “continuing pressure on the material cost base.”